{"id":52216,"date":"2020-07-19T15:27:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T15:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/19\/pentagon-report-turkey-sent-up-to-3800-fighters-to-libya\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:14:00","slug":"pentagon-report-turkey-sent-up-to-3800-fighters-to-libya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/07\/19\/pentagon-report-turkey-sent-up-to-3800-fighters-to-libya\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon report: Turkey sent up to 3,800 fighters to Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the U.S. Defense Department\u2019s inspector general concluded in a new report, its first to detail Turkish deployments that helped change the course of Libya\u2019s war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report comes as the conflict in oil-rich Libya has escalated into a regional proxy war <\/a>fueled by foreign powers pouring weapons and mercenaries into the country. The U.S. military has grown increasingly concerned about Russia\u2019s growing influence in Libya, where hundreds of Russian mercenaries backed a campaign to capture the capital<\/a>, Tripoli, in the country\u2019s west. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quarterly report on counterterrorism operations in Africa by the Pentagon\u2019s internal watchdog, published Thursday, says Turkey paid and offered citizenship to thousands of mercenaries fighting alongside Tripoli-based militias against troops of east Libya-based commander Khalifa Hifter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite widespread reports of the fighters\u2019 extremist links, the report says the U.S. military found no evidence to suggest the mercenaries were affiliated with the Islamic State extremist group or al-Qaida. It says they were \u201cvery likely\u201d motivated by generous financial packages rather than ideology or politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\t